


February Words 18: Friend

by LupusScintilla (inkandblade)



Series: February Words [18]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Derek has a persistent pursuer, Established Relationship, M/M, Not Beta Read, One Sided OFC/Derek Hale - Freeform, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other, Pack treaties, Prompt Fic, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Stalk-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkandblade/pseuds/LupusScintilla
Summary: Michelle shifted in her seat, and despite her being in her office, in her house, in the heart of her territory, Derek couldn’t help but think she looked a little out of place. He didn’t envy her the position she was in, but he wasn’t going to be gentle.





	February Words 18: Friend

“I take it this isn’t the conversation that Celine has been waiting for.”

Michelle shifted in her seat, and despite her being in her office, in her house, in the heart of her territory, Derek couldn’t help but think she looked a little out of place. He didn’t envy her the position she was in, but he wasn’t going to be gentle.

They’d been doing that for far too long.

“You know it isn’t.” Derek sat on the sofa she gestured towards and was glad that the room was partially soundproofed. “It needs to stop. I’m here to officially inform you that your niece should find a different route to take between school and home for the rest of her time at college if she’s to be unaccompanied while travelling back and forth. For the sake of our treaty we won’t bar her from Hale territory, but I will no longer stand between her and my Mate.”

Derek let that sink in a moment. Michelle looked at her hand as she stretched the fingers out and then tucked them back into a loose fist. She looked up again and nodded.

Derek knew that Michelle understood, but he’d promised Stiles that he would spell it out as completely as possible.

“It was cute when she was a teenager, but Celine isn’t a child anymore. She knows that I’ve got no interest in her. It’s plain to see, though, that she doesn’t understand the danger that she is putting herself in, or the detriment her behavior could have on your whole Pack.” There was a tiny flare of alpha-red in Michelle’s eyes, but it faded quickly. Her heart beat didn’t change. “It took a lot to convince Stiles to use the most generous interpretation that Pack law allows for adulthood before he challenged this, but Celine’s been twenty-one for a little over three months, now. I can’t.” Derek swallowed but continued. “More importantly I won’t, hold him back anymore. Everytime Celine approaches me she encroaches on his territory. She seems to think that him not being a wolf means that he either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about what she’s doing. Even if we were all human her behavior would be inappropriate. What I can’t fathom is how a wolf born into a good, strong Pack can so blatantly ignore the fact that he not only wears my mating mark, but that I wear his.”

Michelle opened her mouth as if to speak, but didn’t. She huffed out the feeling instead, and seemed to fold in on herself a little. Derek felt for her. She’d had alpha eyes hoisted on her because of her brother’s death. She’d also had to take on raising an eight-year old cub when she herself was barely out of high school.

He pressed on. “Can you make her understand, Michelle? This goes beyond simple human concepts of consent. Can you get her to open her eyes and see what kind of power it takes to scar a full-shift alpha’s skin? Frankly she’d be safer if Stiles was a wolf. No beta could have left their mark on my hide.” Derek glanced at the clock on the wall, he needed to wrap this up before everyone else got back for lunch. “I hoped that once she was at college she’d forget about me, move on to greener, younger pastures.”

Michelle found her words this time. “I think I was hoping for the same thing.” Her brow pulled in and she glanced at the picture on her desk—her mom and dad standing behind ten-year-old her and her big brother Whelan at what looked like a county fair. “She looks so much like her dad. I just wish she acted more like him.” She sat up in a rush, pushed the air out of her lungs and bangs out of her eyes. “I should have done more, sooner. I’m sorry.”

Derek understood, but he also knew that Celine, and therefore Michelle, had run out of chances.

“We can only move forward from here. Just.” He held out his hand and counted off what needed to be said. “She can only come into our territory in the presence of another adult from your pack, preferably someone older than her. All contact between her, and every member of the Hale pack, must cease—the  _oops I thought I sent that to Liam’s phone_ excuse will no longer fly. Until we say otherwise, even if it’s at a combined pack run or the like, she will not approach me, or try to talk to me through an intermediate other than yourself.” The sounds of the cars coming back was muffled. They only had a few minutes until the Darzi pack house was full again. “Stiles has run out of patience. I don’t think he’d permanently harm her, but he’s within his right to do so. Don’t let Celine think that there’s any room to test him, please.”

♠

_friend (n):  chum, confidant, backer, advocate, ally, associate, confrere_

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is from a [prompt table](https://inkandblade.tumblr.com/post/170416154151/february-words-masterlist) on my tumblr.
> 
> _Though I'm fine with people wanting to create most fanworks [art, podfic, fanmix, translations] of this story, I'd prefer that no direct "sequel" be written as I have my own planned (eventually). Thank you._


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